The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 1, 2026
E Nield, M Lopez-Canul, A Inserra et al.
Abstract Background Pain conditions are major health problems resulting in physical, psychological and social impairment (1), and health care costs (2,3). Within the last decade, research has demonstrated that 5-HT2A agonists including psilocybin and LSD elicit spiritual experiences (4) and functional connectivity changes between diverse brain areas (5). Therefore, it is pertinent to...
Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
July 1, 2026
Guilherme Lodetti, Rafael Mariano de Bitencourt, Antonio Inserra et al.
BackgroundAlcohol use disorder (AUD) remains difficult to treat with lasting success, leading to growing interest in alternative therapeutic approaches. Psychedelic compounds such as Ayahuasca, a traditional brew used in Indigenous Amazonian ceremonies containing N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) along with monoamine oxidase-inhibiting β-carbolines, have shown promise in reducing addictive...
Clinical Neuropsychopharmacology and Addiction
June 25, 2026
Luca Persico, Giacomo D’andrea, Clara Cavallotto et al.
Background: Intranasal esketamine (ESK-NS) is an effective treatment for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), but whether antidepressant outcomes differ by sex and age remains insufficiently explored. Methods: This secondary analysis of the REAL-ESK study included 210 patients with TRD treated with ESK-NS in routine clinical practice and assessed at baseline (T0), one month (T1), and three...
Translational Psychiatry
June 24, 2026
Mauro Pettorruso, Giacomo D’andrea, Antonio Inserra et al.
Clinical trials investigating psychedelic compounds for depression and anxiety-related disorders are yielding promising preliminary results. Psychedelics produce profound alterations in brain function—such as suppression of the default mode network and thalamocortical dysregulation—leading to intense subjective experiences including ego dissolution and mystical-type states. While often...
Clinical Neuropsychopharmacology and Addiction
April 17, 2026
Antonio Inserra, Francesca Zoratto, Mauro Pettorruso et al.
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Psychopharmacology
April 14, 2026
Guilherme Lodetti, Antonio Inserra, Henrique Redivo et al.
BACKGROUND: Chronic stress is a risk factor for the development of anxiety, depression, and comorbid systemic conditions. Ayahuasca (AYA) has been used for hundreds of years and it elicits antidepressant and anxiolytic effects. However, it remains unknown whether AYA elicits a behavioral and biochemical protective effect in chronic stress. AIM OF THE STUDY: Therefore, we evaluated the...
Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
October 1, 2025
Brandon Richardson, Antonio Inserra, Michael Pileggi et al.
2 citations
Psilocybin and lisuride are 5-HT2A receptor agonists, but only psilocybin elicits the head twitch response (HTR) in rodents, a behavior commonly used as a proxy for hallucinogenic activity. This study aimed to compare their effects on serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) neuronal activity, as well as related behavioral outcomes, to elucidate the mechanisms underlying their divergent effects....
Psychiatry Research
August 18, 2025
Ilenia Rosa, L. Padula, Francesco Semeraro et al.
2 citations
Depression is a prevalent and heterogeneous disorder with significant personal and social consequences. The rise of treatment-resistant depression (TRD) challenges traditional approaches and underscores the need for a broader neurobiological perspective. When monoaminergic modulation proves insufficient, clinical guidelines increasingly turn to non-monoaminergic interventions such as...
Behavioural Brain Research
May 8, 2025
Larissa da Silva Joaquim, Lara Rodrigues da Rosa, Yasmin Strickert et al.
5 citations
Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Survivors face disability and psychiatric sequelae resulting from ischemia-induced cell death and associated neuroinflammation, and oxidative stress. Herbal medicines have been shown to elicit neuroprotective effects following stroke due to their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Preliminary evidence suggests that...
Molecular Neurobiology
May 1, 2025
Rick Wilhiam de Camargo, Larissa Joaquim, Richard Simon Machado et al.
13 citations
The psychoactive decoction Ayahuasca (AYA) used for therapeutic and religious purposes by indigenous groups and peoples from Amazonian regions produces anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. Thus, it may be useful to attenuate the neuroinflammation and related anxiety- and depressive-like symptoms elicited by inflammatory insults such as sepsis. Rats were pretreated for 3 days with...
Schizophrenia Research
April 1, 2025
Sofia de Almeida Queiroz, Linério Ribeiro de Novais Junior, Anita Beatriz Pacheco de Carvalho et al.
2 citations
Schizophrenia (SCZ) has limited treatment options, often with significant side effects. Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-euphoric phytocannabinoid, has shown potential as a novel therapeutic option in SCZ due to antipsychotic-like, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. We compared the therapeutic effects of CBD and risperidone (RISP) in a rat model of SCZ induced by sub-chronic ketamine (KET),...
Cellular signalling
March 1, 2025
Etienne Billard, Alexandre Torbey, Antonio Inserra et al.
10 citations
Promising clinical evidence suggests that psychedelic compounds, like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), have therapeutic value for treatment of psychiatric disorders. However, they often produce hallucinations and dissociative states, likely mediated by the serotonin (5-HT) receptor 5-HT2A, raising challenges regarding therapeutic scalability. Given the reported antipsychotic effects of...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
February 1, 2025
Martha López-canul, Vivienne Nguyen, Antonio Inserra et al.
Abstract Background Pain is a major health problem resulting in a high degree of suffering, physical, psychological and social impairments, and exorbitant health care costs1-2. Effective pain treatments are limited and are often accompanied by significant side effects3. Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that psychedelics, specifically psilocybin, can reset brain areas of functional...
Frontiers in Neuroscience
2025
Antonio Inserra, Colin J. Murray, Antonella Campanale et al.
Emerging evidence indicates that rapid-acting antidepressants (RAADs)-including ketamine and serotonergic psychedelics- may affect myelin homeostasis, aside from producing fast-onset, sustained improvements in several psychiatric disorders. A systematic search of PubMed (MEDLINE), Web of Science, Europe PMC, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and Google Scholar was conducted up to...
Translational Psychiatry
September 4, 2024
Antonio Inserra, Antonella Campanale, Tamim Rezai et al.
24 citations
BACKGROUND: Rapid-acting antidepressants (RAADs), including dissociative anesthetics, psychedelics, and empathogens, elicit rapid and sustained therapeutic improvements in psychiatric disorders by purportedly modulating neuroplasticity, neurotransmission, and immunity. These outcomes may be mediated by, or result in, an acute and/or sustained entrainment of epigenetic processes, which remodel...
Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
August 30, 2024
Antonella Campanale, Antonio Inserra, Stefano Comai
18 citations
Mounting evidence points towards a crucial role of the kynurenine pathway (KP) in the altered gut-brain axis (GBA) balance in severe mental illness (SMI, namely depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia) and cardiometabolic comorbidities. Preliminary evidence shows that serotonergic psychedelics and their analogues may hold therapeutic potential in addressing the altered KP in the...
Transl Psychiatry
December 13, 2023
Marco Onofrj, Mirella Russo, Stefano Delli Pizzi et al.
42 citations
The PD-DLB psychosis complex found in Parkinson's disease (PD) and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) includes hallucinations, Somatic Symptom/Functional Disorders, and delusions. These disorders exhibit similar presentation patterns and progression. Mechanisms at the root of these symptoms also share similarities with processes promoting altered states of consciousness found in Rapid Eye Movement...
CNS Drugs
September 1, 2023
Antonio Inserra, Alexandre Piot, Danilo de Gregorio et al.
17 citations
Anxiety disorders (ADs) represent the sixth leading cause of disability worldwide, resulting in a significant global economic burden. Over 50% of individuals with ADs do not respond to standard therapies, making the identification of more effective anxiolytic drugs an ongoing research priority. In this work, we review the preclinical literature concerning the effects of lysergic acid...
British Journal of Pharmacology
March 1, 2023
Antonio Inserra, Giada Giorgini, Sebastien Lacroix et al.
38 citations
Psychedelics elicit prosocial, antidepressant and anxiolytic effects via neuroplasticity, neurotransmission and neuro-immunomodulatory mechanisms. Whether psychedelics affect the brain endocannabinoid system and its extended version, the endocannabinoidome (eCBome) or the gut microbiome, remains unknown. Adult C57BL/6N male mice were administered lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or saline for 7...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
2023
Simon Ruffell, Nige Netzband, WaiFung Tsang et al.
1 citation
correction
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.687615.].
Transcultural Psychiatry
October 1, 2022
Gabriella Gobbi, Antonio Inserra, Kyle T. Greenway et al.
9 citations
Psychedelics have been already used by human societies for more than 3000 years, mostly in religious and healing context. The renewed interest in the potential application of psychedelic compounds as novel therapeutics has led to promising preliminary evidence of clinical benefit in some psychiatric disorders. Despite these promising results, the potential for large-scale clinical application...
Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
June 28, 2022
Antonio Inserra, Antonella Campanale, David Cheishvili et al.
39 citations
AimPsychedelic compounds elicit relief from mental disorders. However, the underpinnings of therapeutic improvement remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effects of repeated lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on whole-genome DNA methylation and protein expression in the mouse prefrontal cortex (PFC).MethodsWhole genome bisulphite sequencing (WGBS) and proteomics profiling of the...
Neuropsychopharmacology
March 17, 2022
Danilo de Gregorio, Antonio Inserra, Justine P. Enns et al.
89 citations
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a serotonergic psychedelic compound receiving increasing interest due to putative anxiolytic and antidepressant properties. However, the potential neurobiological mechanisms mediating these effects remain elusive. Employing in vivo electrophysiology, microionthophoresis, behavioral paradigms and morphology assays, we assessed the impact of acute and chronic...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
January 27, 2022
Athanasios Markopoulos, Antonio Inserra, Danilo de Gregorio et al.
44 citations
Recent clinical and preclinical evidence points towards empathogenic and prosocial effects elicited by psychedelic compounds, notably the serotonin 5-HT 2A agonists lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and their derivatives. These findings suggest a therapeutic potential of psychedelic compounds for some of the behavioural traits associated with autism...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
June 9, 2021
Simon Ruffell, Nige Netzband, WaiFung Tsang et al.
74 citations
Ayahuasca is a natural psychoactive brew, used in traditional ceremonies in the Amazon basin. Recent research has indicated that ayahuasca is pharmacologically safe and its use may be positively associated with improvements in psychiatric symptoms. The mechanistic effects of ayahuasca are yet to be fully established. In this prospective naturalistic study, 63 self-selected participants took...